


24.3 Minutes Well Spent

by CatWingsAthena



Category: Firefly
Genre: Autistic Simon Tam, Because that is my forever headcanon, Dancing, Gen, Posted in honor of National Siblings' Day, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-10
Updated: 2019-04-10
Packaged: 2020-01-10 23:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18418508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatWingsAthena/pseuds/CatWingsAthena
Summary: Simon Tam really ought to be doing his math homework.His sister has other ideas.Or, the one where pre-Academy River tries to teach Simon how to dance, and he kind of sucks at it, but fun is had just the same. Posted in honor of National Siblings' Day.





	24.3 Minutes Well Spent

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody! This work contains a character basically "quiet hands"-ing themself (after it was done to them by someone else) (for those who don't know, that means suppressing their stims/fidgets), and a character being shamed for fidgeting/stimming. If that's going to be a problem for you, do be warned. Hope you enjoy!

Simon Tam sat at his desk and tried not to fidget.

Every time he’d made some small victory--stilled his bouncing leg, quieted his twisting fingers--another fidget started up, and he had to squelch that one too.

He knew his dad would be mad if he caught him fidgeting. Had been mad.  _ How are you supposed to operate on people if you can’t keep still? _ his dad had asked, frowning in disapproval. And he was right. Simon needed to be the best doctor he could be, needed to help as many people as he could. So he needed to stop fidgeting.

But he felt like his skin was crawling, like something inside him was squirming to get out.

Simon took a deep breath. Right. He was supposed to be focusing on his math homework.

Two problems in (in which time he’d caught himself tapping his pencil, running his eraser over his lip, and bouncing his leg yet again), Simon heard a familiar voice.

“Simon?” River chirped.

“Go away, River,” said Simon. “I’m doing homework.”

River walked into the room and over to Simon’s desk, peered at the problems for a second, and snorted. “Oh, please. It’ll take you what, twenty-four-point-three minutes, plus or minus one-point-six, to finish that? Mom and Dad won’t be home for an hour and fourteen minutes at least. And I need to practice for my dance recital. We’re doing partner dances this week. Don’t worry, they’re very simplistic,” she said with a slight smirk. “Will you help me?”

“Can’t you practice on your own?” asked Simon.

“I could,” she said. “But I’d rather practice the way I’m going to dance it.” She looked at Simon with wide eyes. “Simon, dance with meeeee.”

Simon laughed. “No fair,” he said, already standing up.

“Besides,” River added thoughtfully, “it’ll help with the crawly feeling. I promise.”

Simon looked at her sideways, but River was already skipping out to the living room.

Simon sighed and followed.

...

“No, silly,” said River as Simon tried to copy a complicated move she’d made. “Like  _ this _ .” She executed the move flawlessly, with the kind of fluid grace most people could only dream of.

Simon felt simultaneously amazed, profoundly lucky to have this incredible person as his sister, and a little bit jealous.

“I’m  _ trying _ ,” he said. “Like this?” He tried again.

River grinned, barely holding back laughter. “Close enough.”

It was a partner dance, and she was teaching him the part she wasn’t dancing--which, naturally, was the less difficult part (Simon didn’t know of any instructor who  _ wouldn’t _ put River on all the most difficult parts). At least, River  _ said _ it was the less difficult part. From Simon’s perspective, it was still plenty difficult.

“Your gross motor skills have a lot of room for improvement,” River commented.

“Gee,  _ thanks, _ ” muttered Simon, who wasn’t feeling particularly encouraged by either the difficulty of the dance or by River’s somewhat snide commentary and occasional giggles.

Eventually, though, his attempts morphed into something River could work with, and, for a few minutes, they were actually dancing together.

Simon provided the backdrop while River leapt and twirled. They spun in and out, weaving and stepping around the room, in a flurry of motion.

Then, they stopped.

For a moment, they just stood there.

“Okay,” said River. “You can go back to your homework now, if you want. You have plenty of time.”

Simon nodded. “Good night,” he said.

“Good night,” River echoed.

As Simon sat down at his desk and started on his homework, he was surprised to find that he really did feel more settled. The urge to fidget was still there, but much less strong. He raced through his problems and called it a night.

When his dad came in to check on him, he was already in bed, half-asleep.

“You still awake?” his dad whispered.

“Yes,” said Simon, sitting up straight.

“Did you get your homework done?”

“Yes,” said Simon. “It’s on my desk.”

“Good,” said Simon’s dad. “Did you hold down the fort okay? No incidents?”

“Nothing,” said Simon.

“Good night, then,” said Simon’s dad.

“Good night,” said Simon.

Simon went to sleep with his mind full of dancing.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it! If you did, please let me know below! I hope you have a great day!


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